Ursa Major (abbr. UMa, gen. Ursae Majoris)

Ursa Major, with the stars of the
Big Dipper (Plough) labeled. Photo by David
Cleave

The Great Bear; a very large and prominent northern constellation,
located west of Lyra and north of Leo
and Leo Minor. Ursa Major is a good starting
point to find other stars and constellation in the sky. A line through the
Pointers, Alpha UMa (Dubhe) and Beta UMa (Merak), leads to north to the
pole star, Polaris, and south toward Regulus.
Capella in Auriga can be found by following
a line from Delta UMa to Alpha UMa. Likewise, a line from Delta UMa to Beta
UMa and beyond, leads to Alpha Gem. Ursa Major is most famous for the Big
Dipper (or Plough) asterism, made from the stars Alpha, Beta, Gamma,
Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta UMa. See below for details of the constellation's
brightest stars and interesting deep sky objects.